Stretch of Green Street in Urbana reopens after MCORE work

Pedestrians walk through the intersection of South Goodwin Avenue and West Green Street on Monday, July 16, 2018, in Urbana after the section of Green between Goodwin and Lincoln avenues, under construction since the spring as part of the Multimodal Corridor Enhancement Project, was fully reopened to traffic a month ahead of schedule.

URBANA — A stretch of Green Street near campus is reopening to two-way traffic Monday afternoon, a month ahead of schedule, after the latest phase of the Multimodal Corridor Enhancement Project.

The city of Urbana announced that Green between Goodwin and Lincoln avenues would be fully open by 3 p.m., weather permitting. Landscaping and other work will be completed this fall with temporary lane closures.

The north half of Green in that section has been closed since early spring. Crews are replacing the roadway and converting it into three lanes — two lanes of through traffic and a center turn lane — to make more room for pedestrians and bicycles. The south half was completed late last fall after months of construction.

"Duce Construction did a really great job of moving this along," said Assistant City Engineer Craig Shonkwiler.

Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District bus routes are expected to resume after the road is fully open to two-way traffic.

Across town in Champaign, MCORE improvements on Green between Third and Fourth streets, as well as a section of Wright Street, are scheduled to wrap up by Aug. 17.

The construction is part of the four-year, $46.9 million MCORE Project designed to improve Green, Wright and White streets and Armory Avenue. The goal is to balance cars, bikes, and bus traffic, upgrade the infrastructure and improve connections between the UI and the two cities.